2026-04-13 PL-BOA-2026-000132 Petition

Home

Two of the main issues in this case concern the swimming pool that has been on the premises for many years and the use of the "temporary office & lounge" as permanent office and guest reception area. When the landowner submitted a Special Management Area ("SMA") assessment to county officials in 2021 to make further renovations to the hotel building, pool and deck area, and premises as a whole, county officials made the following observations: The hotel has been in place for seventy years; (*) The shoreline has been "hardened" by pool construction; (*) Repairs were proposed to the existing pool and deck. In addition, county officials observed that: (1) A rock wall on the north side exceeds six feet in height; ? (2) The height of the existing rock wall on the makai side of Alii Drive was increased from its then existing height of two feet. 3 ' No one questioned the fact that a pool was built on the property many years ago. For reasons unknown, building permits for the pool's construction and shoreline hardening have not been found. 2 The neighboring landowner was allowed to improve this rock wall and apparently increased the height of the existing stone wall beyond the six-foot height limitation. 3 The property is registered with the Land Court with Application 1595. The area on which the then existing rock wall was and is located lies outside of the Land Court lot boundaries and on what would have been "public land" that had been ceded to the United States. Jurisdictional questions exist as to who owns the area in question —the state or the county as a "road in limbo." When the county constructed drainage improvements for Waiaha Stream, located in the immediate vicinity of the hotel property (on the south side), the landowner increased the height of the existing two-foot high stone wall to protect the landowner's property, to continue to direct water to the county's new drainage facilities and to "match" the appearance of the rock wall that was built on the mauka side of Alii Drive. When county officials inspected the county's bridge repair work and drainage improvements, they were aware of the landowner's concurrent work to increase the height of the existing rock wall. (continued next page) 2